Tuskegee University Requires ‘Business Suit And Proper Shoes’ Under New Dress Code For Students

Tuskegee University announced plans to roll out a new dress code this upcoming semester at the historically black college.

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The dress code announcement came directly from the top in an email to students from Tuskegee University President Dr. Mark A. Brown. “The Student Handbook requires students to arrive on campus with a business suit and proper shoes for a business meeting,” the email read.

The new dress code also bars “revealing clothing in class, to the cafeteria or in official settings like Convocation,” and prohibits “bedroom shoes, bonnets, or du-rags to class or the cafeteria,” according to the email.

The university president assured the coeducational campus community that students will derive long-term benefits from these dress policies.

“The goal here is not meant to restrict you from enjoying the Tuskegee Experience, but to prepare you with a solid foundation for the workforce you will enter once you leave Tuskegee,” Brown noted. (RELATED: Handcuffs Slapped On Benjy Taylor After Morehouse-Tuskegee College Basketball Game In Absolutely Bizarre Scene)

“Employers are less forgiving and too often presentation may overrule stellar preparation,” Brown added.

To anyone in the student body whose wardrobe does not match the requirements of the dress code, the southern school is supplying a “community closet” for students in need, according to NBC Washington.

It is currently unclear what the punishment could be for not abiding by the new rules, but university faculty “will be empowered to respond to students who are inappropriately dressed based on these guidelines.”

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The dress code update sent shockwaves throughout the Tuskegee University student and alumni communities, receiving mixed feedback.

George Washington University associate professor and Tuskegee alumna Imani Cheers told NBC “I don’t think it’s a bad thing to have standards for us,” Cheers said. “If we look at the archives of all of our HBCUs — Howard, Tuskegee, Spelman — the list goes on and on. There’s a point in our illustrious history where everywhere, everybody was dressed down, dapper, suits ready to go.”

On the other hand, not everyone was pleased.

Some hinted at there being racial undertones to the rules.

“To me, this isn’t about professionalism. It’s about respectability politics. It’s the idea that Black people have to constantly edit ourselves, tone ourselves down, and distance ourselves from parts of our culture to be viewed as acceptable,” one Facebook user wrote, according to The New York Post.

Some saw it as too strict.

“There is absolutely no correlation between what you wear to class, in college, and your future as a professional,” another Facebook user wrote.

The policy changes for this year did not end there.

Students will also now be subject to a cell phone ban while in academic settings.

Additionally, the email reminded students of the university attendance policy.

Tuskegee University was founded on July 4, 1881 as part of a land grant by the Alabama Legislature.

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